Fridge vs Refrigerator: What’s the Difference?

The debate is real! While most people are well-aware of what fridge and refrigerators do, but what most can’t seem to answer is that both these things are actually different from one another. Though, they belong to the same family, and basically maintain a standard temperature to preserve items, the differences exists and are rather uncanny.
But before we dive into that, let’s understand the basic origin of these words.

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Where it all started- The Fridgidaire Brand

One of the most recognized home appliance brand of the US, became the inspiration behind these two words. The Fridgidaire brand became so popular with their initial model products that people derived the word fridge, to use it for short. But later on, with further advancement in technology, your common household fridge’s started getting makeovers and addition in features and thus, came into being refrigerators.
So the fridge came first, then came refrigerators.

What’s the difference

Other than the spelling differences, the different functionalities define the identities of these two. Refrigerators are machines that come with freezers with them and are usually more powerful than the ordinary fridge, while the fridge is the machine that comes in different sizes, variations and usually skip out the freezer part.

In fridges, the freezer in its best form, is in a little section added above. Other than that, the two-door set that you see, is actually a refrigerator, the one door being a fridge.

While the two words are used interchangeably with one another, refrigerators are the one that have both the cooling and freezing mechanisms installed in them, while a fridge is the one in which the freezing mechanisms are usually omitted, for maintaining its compact built.

A common example of refrigerators are the ones installed in our homes and the big, wide, glass window ones that can be seen in restaurants and other commercial places. Fridges, due to their compact sizes, can be seen as an addition in small bars and in hotel rooms.

The Purposes of Fridges and Refrigerators

Due to the difference in their sizes and overall construction, the two products are used for different purposes. Working on the same lines of storing items, refrigerators bear more cooling and freezing power than fridges. Plus, in refrigerators, you get the freezer compartments and more space, which means you can actually store more items as compare to a fridge.

The Temperature and Functionality Differences

The temperature at which refrigerators and fridges work at differ as well. For instance, by default, refrigerators are programmed to maintain the temperature a few degrees above the freezing point of water, so that food items and medicines can have the optimal temperature for preservation. The freezer compartment can maintain the temperature below freezing point, which means food can be stored and will stay frozen until taken out.

Fridges, on the other hand, especially the smaller ones, are programmed to maintain a temperature lower than that in case of a refrigerator, so that everything inside it maintains a cool temperature. However, a fridge wouldn’t be able to maintain the preservation standards as that of a refrigerator’s and you can certainly not expect any freezing temperatures in them.

So What Should be used? Fridges or Refrigerators?

While a refrigerator will be more useful to you for storing items used in your domestic life, it does not mean a fridge will be of no use. In fact, leftovers, breads and pastas, packaged goods and even water and fizzy drinks can last a long time in fridge. Wine and beers can also be stored and chilled in a fridge, but for optimal results, wine coolers will do a better job at it than fridges. Nevertheless, in edibles, if you wish to store rich-hearty materials like vegetables, poultry, meat, fish and dairy products, than a refrigerator would do the task perfectly.

Which One is Better?

Actually, both have their own set of functionalities and strengths. While the refrigerators seem more high-end and can accommodate more items, the fridge wins for its compact size and equally effective performance. The efficiency of every item depends on your need at hand and usage. Just be sure to accept the certain limitations that come along with each product. At the end of the day, all your individual needs have a specialized and more advanced product waiting for you.

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